An Introduction in a *Snap*

Hey Guys!

My name is Melanie, but, due to having many nicknames forced onto me before, I respond to pretty much anything, as long as I know it's referring to me.  As this is the first post on this blog, I figured I should do a bit of an introduction of myself.  I'm a freshman at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, MA, majoring in cybersecurity.  My hometown is Torrance, CA, which is about an hour out of LA with traffic.  I have one older sister, who is going to school in Colorado, and two pets: one dog and one cat. 

Image: Me, playing with my dog, Tyber; Source: Author

While most of my childhood friends have been long-time anime fans, I somehow didn't watch any until my junior year of high school.  The first anime that ever watched was Attack on Titan, which I binged the first two seasons of in two days.  I was easily hooked on the constant combat and carnage, and, after catching up the mystery aspect to the story kept me waiting anxiously for the new episode each week.  After the insane reveal at the end of season three, (which I will not spoil here) I have absolutely no idea how the story will end, making me all the more impatient for the fourth and final season.

I'd have to say that Hunter x Hunter is probably my favorite anime that I've watched.  I'll admit that the story starts off painfully slow; in the beginning, the main reason I kept watching the series was because I had a friend constantly insisting that it gets better.  And it got so much better.  The intricate power system makes every fight new and filled with complex strategy.  I also loved how each story arc was distinct in it's setting and tone; the story never got old despite the main premise remaining unchanged.  My favorite aspect of the series is probably how each character has their own unique story and motivation, no matter how many episodes they appear in.  Characters that are given full backstories may only stay around for an episode or two, never to be heard from again.  This shows that, while the series follows two characters, the world those characters exist in does not revolve around them.  Everyone has their own story, we just don't get to see all of them.

Of course, you can't talk about Hunter x Hunter without commenting on the Chimera Ant arc (which takes up more than a third of the series).  It never fails to amaze me how beautifully Gon and Meruem's stories mirror each other, despite never actually meeting.  Gon spirals downward in his quest for revenge; the human becoming increasingly "monstrous."  At the same time, Meruem begins to care for Komugi, a blind girl; the king of the "monsters" becoming increasingly "human."

I have pictures to go along with the two shows I talked about above, as well as some other works of art that I enjoy and the story behind my nicknames in a snap that I made here.